Jeff Orchard Jazz

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BOOKING: jefforchardjazz@gmail.com...415.412.0865

THE PARTY STARTS WHEN PIANIST JEFF ORCHARD STEPS ON THE BANDSTAND as a soloist, sideman, accompanist or front man.
One-time keyboard player with legendary New York trumpeter “Little Jazz” Roy Eldridge, Jeff's now based in the San Francisco Bay Area, lighting up clubs, bistros, festivals, weddings and private parties with his bottomless repertoire of straight-ahead jazz, be-bop, blues, and the Great American Songbook.
Jeff plays piano like back in the day--- part of a Manhattan family musical tradition rooted in the clubs of famed 52nd Street, where Jeff's father, valve trombonist Frank Orchard, played and his chanteuse mother stole hearts. On the Broadway musical stage his actor grandparents headlined.
Today, it's still good music for hard times. Music creating memories...No venue's too small or large 
JEFF'S REPERTOIRE
Jeff knows an extraordinary number of tunes, ranging from Cole Porter, Gershwin and Sinatra to a rich knowledge of jazz spanning decades, as well as BeBop.

Frank Orchard, valve trombone, w/ Bobby Haggart, bass; James P. Johnson, piano; Red Cless, clarinet, 1941 @ The Pied Piper, Greenwich, Village, NYC.

Booking: 415.412.0865
jefforchardjazz@gmail.com

JEFF'S BACK STORY
"San Francisco is my home, and thanks to digital technology the world is my audience," says pianist Jeff Orchard, who grew up to the sound of jazz musicians jamming after hours in his family’s Manhattan apartment.








For 40 years, Jeff's dad, Frank Orchard, played valve trombone with such jazz greats as Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Bobby Hackett, Lips Page and many others. At Nick’s in Greenwich Village, Jimmy Ryan’s on 52nd Street, Minton’s in Harlem or on the road with Joe Thomas’ band (rooming with Omar Simeon), Frank Orchard's music filled the air.


(Right), Frank Orchard, valve trombone, with Bobby Hackett, coronet, 1940s.


Jeff’s mom, Virginia, stage name Peggy Lane, was the featured singer in The Frank Orchard Hot 4 with Ginger Added (above left). Her parents were Broadway show folk. Jeff's grandfather 
Jack Reinhard (below right) was also a leading man in the Ziegfeld Follies and early silent films, while grandmother Viva Renaud (below left) toured the European continent with her dance act Haskell and Renaud.

While still a youth, Jeff made his professional debut in the summer of 1976 as a sideman for Roy Eldridge at Jimmy Ryan’s, the last remaining 52nd Street club.

After his stint with Roy, Jimmy Ryan’s kept Jeff as a single. Later, forming a duo with his dad, Orchard & Orchard played four nights a week at Cafe Un, Deux, Trois on West 44th Street, while filling their free nights at Jimmy Ryan’s or the Star & Garter. Jeff also kept busy playing solo in hotels like the Algonquin and at private parties and catered affairs.

By the mid 1980s Frank died; clubs closed. Jeff got a job at a hospital, worked his way through New York University, then with a philosophy degree went to Georgetown Law School. After graduating, he worked as a public defender in Washington, D.C. 

When the 21st century dawned, it was time to start playing again. Only now, he’s even better.

Lighting up San Francisco bandstands with a sound straight from NYC's famed 52nd Street



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